A 2020 report of the Auditor-General has revealed how prepaid meters and conductors procured by the Electricity of Ghana (ECG) at the cost of 59, 161,964.5 million cedis, have been ‘left to rot’ for 5 years.
The prepaid meters and conductors which were procured between 2014 and 2016 were not issued out to customers because ECG’s management failed to distribute them prior to purchasing new ones.
The Auditor-General has thus recommended that meters and conductors are given out as soon as possible.
Again, it was recommended that if the management of the ECG fails to give them out, “the amount involved should be recovered from the officers who engaged in the procurement”.
In response, the management of ECG said, some technical challenges were identified during the initial stage of the installation of the meters and and as a result, could not be used for the intended purpose.
In furtherance, management of ECG expounded that, prior to the audit visit, they constituted a committee to engage the suppliers on the identified technical challenges and that the report is with the ECG’s board.
In respect of the conductors, the audit report revealed the conductors have not been used because of some land disputes.
“The Hard all Alu bare stranded conductors 255sq were procured for some specific projects which are now encountering right of way land disputes. Management is still negotiating to secure clearance for the continuation of the affected projects”, a portion of the audit report read.
A table of the prepayment meters and conductor 265sq which have been abandoned is below:
By : Jerubbaal Baiden
